Metronome
by Yorik
Summary: Revelations as Nadeshiko watches Touya teaching Sakura a forgotten lullaby on piano. One-shot.


**Metronome**

...............................................................................

**Notice:** Edited 19/08/04

...............................................................................

Revelations as Nadeshiko watches Touya teaching Sakura a forgotten lullaby on piano. One-shot.  
  
.................................................................................  
  
**Disclaimer:** Cardcaptor Sakura and its characters are property of CLAMP™. The only thing which belongs to me at this point is the cheesy storyline.  
  
........................................................................................  
  
There it was.  
  
**The piano.  
**  
He hadn't played it since his mother died. That was seven years ago. Touya ran his fingers lightly over the keys, lost in the past. It wasn't until a few minutes later when he sat down on the cushioned stool, caked with dust, that he realized he'd been holding his breath. What was that song she used to play? He began to hum softly, recalling the lullaby his mother would play to him. How did it go?  
  
_"Dum...da...da da da...dum..."  
_  
His index finger pushed down gently on middle C, and the husky note pierced the silence.  
  
_"G sharp...E...C..."_  
  
Slowly but surely, the memories of the long-forgotten lullaby came flooding back to him. He used to sit either on her lap or by her feet, and her voice would sing out on a clear, sweet, melodic note; the two of them would be lost in their little world for hours at a stretch. That was even _before_ his sister was born. He was seven when she was- and could still remember his mother humming the melody to his new sibling while she dozed. Of _course_ he had been jealous at first, but that didn't last too long. It was their song, hers and his, a special moment always cherished by mother and son.  
  
Sakura wasn't one who cared much for music. In Fact, the only thing that she seemed to enjoy, besides being with her family and friends, was anything sporty. Touya was the more creative one. His sister had inherited his father's athletic streak whilst he his mother's creativity. He smiled to himself. They more or less balanced out more that way. He was the genius of the family, brilliant at his work, cooking, painting, writing, archery (Yukito had taught him a few years back) and most of all, music.  
  
It was his passion.  
  
Well, that was besides the woman who had his heart.  
  
Nadeshiko had begun teaching him early, so by the time he was five he knew not only most of the scales, but how to play a series of nursery rhymes. She would laugh back then, ruffle his hair and hug him tightly, whispering: _"you're my special boy, Touya. You're perfect."  
  
_Touya, despite his being at the independent age of twenty-four, missed it all.  
  
Her hair, her smell, her hugs, and her voice. It was a shame she died so young. _"She could have done great things," _his father told him often, gazing wistfully into the past. "_And she did."  
  
_It was true. Just before she died, Nadeshiko was able to not only bring her family closer to theirs, but re-instated the trust and bonding between Fujitaka and his own parents.  
  
An absolute angel.  
  
..............................  
  
Touya was well into the lullaby when Sakura poked her head in through the crack in the door to listen. Her eyes widened. If anything at all, Touya was absolutely brilliant. She couldn't remember the time he had last sat down at their piano to play. She knew, however, it was before her mother died. A sad smile crossed her usually bright features, dimming her eyes. She then shook her head and told herself to behave- her mother would hate it if she cried.  
  
She scrutinized Touya for a moment, taking him in. She frowned distastefully. How any of her classmates thought he was a 'hunk' was a mystery to her. Sure, he wasn't _ugly_, but "come on", she told them, he _**was**_ her brother.  
  
After listening to the last note fade away, Sakura bounded up to him, snapping Touya out of his reverie.  
  
"Oh, Niichan, that was...pretty...average!"  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "Only average?"  
  
"I can't complement you! Its against my morals!"  
  
"Stupid monster."  
  
"I am not!"  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever."  
  
Silence settled over the two before...  
  
"Can you teach me how to play that?"  
  
"This?!"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"You barely know how to read!"  
  
"That doesn't matter," huffed Sakura, "It's the end result that counts!"  
  
"The end result will be me with a major headache."  
  
"Come _on_!!"  
  
"I can't teach monsters."  
  
"For the last time, I'm not a monster!"  
  
"Who says?"  
  
"_ME!"  
  
_"I'm afraid that witness is horribly biased."

"Biased?"  
  
"Naturally. If you're the offending monster, then wouldn't you try to convince the jury you were human?"  
  
"I don't need to try. I AM. Unlike YOU. Besides, there IS no jury."  
  
"What nonsense. In fact, even this conversation is nonsensical. Kaijuus can't speak human."  
  
"So that proves it then."  
  
"Proves what?"  
  
"That I'm NOT a monster."  
  
"On the contrary; you're not speaking human, **_I'M_** speaking monster!"  
  
"You are such a pest!"  
  
"That's what I'm here for."  
  
More silence.  
  
"I won."  
  
"Shut up, Niichan, and be useful for a change by teaching me this thing."  
  
"Hmnn...give me one good reason why I should?"  
  
"Firstly," said Sakura, spinning round on her heel in the sun-stained room to face her cynical brother, "I'm your sister."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Secondly," she continued, ignoring him, "If you don't I'll become very violent."  
  
"Ooh," moaned Touya in mock terror, "I'm absolutely terrified! A monster's going to eat me!"  
  
"And thirdly, because I really, really like it. How did you learn it? I never hear you play."  
  
The sound of a pin dropping would have sounded like a bomb-blast at this point.  
  
_"Okaasan..."_  
  
"Oh."  
  
An uncomfortable pause soon followed.  
  
"So..."  
  
"Hn?"  
  
"Do you want to learn it or what?"  
  
Sakura's face brightened. "Goodie! Now...uh...what's that note?"  
  
"You don't know what that note is?"  
  
A statement, not a question.  
  
"Well, I _was_ seven the last time I played."  
  
"I don't believe this..."  
  
"Come **_on_**, niichan!!"  
  
"Right," said Touya,taking full control of the situation at hand, "you place this hand here, and that one there, with the fingers...like...so..."  
  
"Like this?"  
  
"Yeah. Now, there are four sharps, G, F, C and D..."  
  
"These?"  
  
"Does that look like D sharp to you?"  
  
"To me, everything looks the same."  
  
"How do you expect to learn this?!"  
  
"Just think, if you teach me this you'll go down as the first man in history to teach a Kaiju piano. Not that you _are_ a man or anything..."  
  
"Ouch. Now I don't feel like playing anymore."  
  
_"Niichan!"_  
  
"Right, right. Anyway, this is a quaver with half the beat of a crotchet..."  
  
"Those three...joined things?"  
  
Touya groaned. "Yes, the joined things."  
  
"Okay. What next?"  
  
"Press those three...like this...NO!! like _**this**_... see here, imitate me..."  
  
"Hello! Touya! Play me that...thingey- uh..._**bar!**_ Not the whole of Beethoven's fifth symphony!"  
  
"That _is_ the first bar!"  
  
_"God..."  
_  
"Okay, now, those three notes again..."  
  
Three clumsy notes were formed and heard above the noise.  
  
"You call that music?!"  
  
"I'm trying hard,okay?!"  
  
"Hard isn't enough! No, no, no! You've done it again! Like this! Play it like this!"  
  
"Touya!"  
  
...  
  
Nadeshiko giggled faintly at the sight of brother and sister. Sakura still hadn't noticed it yet, but Touya had the tendencies of a mother hen watching over her eggs. She was quite proud of him, actually. Yes, of Sakura too, but she felt that Touya should be given special recognition because even though his role in his sister's magical life was small, his role in everything else was absolutely vital. The way he would protect her, be it from enemies or friends, was enough to make any mother proud. Really.  
  
"You twit, no, no...listen...get into the rhythm..."  
  
She missed her conversations with him terribly. He was, after all, the one who could see into the spirit world. She sighed and, in an attempt to make herself feel better, insisted that he missed it too. Sakura was actually in awe of her older sibling, not that she'd ever tell him, of course. She would find it highly embarrassing if Touya discovered that she _actually_ had respected him.  
  
After a few moments of watching the two, Nadeshiko decided to leave them to their own devices. Now that her eldest was in charge, nothing could go _horribly_ wrong. Then, with one last gentle smile, she vanished, promising silently to watch over from afar- there was no need for her frequent visits to earth anymore.  
  
She could hear them playing from up above, and as Nadeshiko suspected, the lullaby carried on well into the evening.  
  
Her moment was now theirs, and she wouldn't have had it any other way.  
  
.....................................  
  
**The End**  
  
.......................................  
  
I was playing the piano when my stepdad asked whether I'd used a metronome before. Behold, this is my inspiration. Anyway, I don't know why I'm writing this – I've got O levels the day after tomorrow. Wish me luck!!  
  
Seraph©


End file.
